A great start to the day, “What Works for Whom and here?” are the baseline questions that make up the evaluations in which I have the most confidence .

While there was much to consider, here are a few interesting tidbits that I took note of during the discussions.

NOTE: These are my on-the-fly notes. If I’ve mis-quoted or mis-attributed anything, I am happy to update the post.

The day started with excellent context setting by Melanne Verneer. As an advocate for and user of evaluation, she speaks of the (refreshingly) knowledgeably about the field and its application to decision making.

A thought on gender equity over time “Being ridiculed, to being resisted, to beginning to see change”
— William Savedoff, Senior Fellow, Center for Global Development https://twitter.com/billsavedoff

Spending priorities vary wildly within a household, 94% of the time. Her favourite pet statistic is from FAO study on Cote D’Ivoire that $10 in the hands of a woman well advance the same development goals as $110 in the hands of a man.
—Krisila Benson, Senior Director of Program Services, TechnoServe https://twitter.com/TechnoServe

Q: we have seen when empowering women, there’s been a need for someone on their household to take up the slack and often it’s their daughters. how do you track and address unintended consequences?
— (paraphrased, question from the audience – did not catch name/organization in time)

Q: (following a discussion of rigour in monitoring and evaluation) do we need more rigour in evaluation or do we need something else to influence decision-making, policy, and behaviour change on the ground?
— (paraphrased question from the audience, a colleague at the Center for Global Development, but I did not catch the name)

As funders, we may have crippled innovation be demanding programs that are built on prior data.
— Deborah Birx, Ambassador-at-Large, US Global AIDS Coordinator and US Special Representative for Global http://twitter.com/pepfar